[VIDEO] Corvette Museum’s Sinkhole Also Brings Record Visitors to the Corvette Assembly Plant

Remember how nervous you were that first day on a new job?

Well, imagine Corvette Assembly Plant Manager Jeff Lamarche’s feelings when he arrived for his second day on the job on Feb. 12, 2014 – only to find out that a sinkhole had swallowed eight Corvettes in the National Corvette Museum just next door during the night!

His wife actually delivered the news to him first.

“She was going to the museum that day,” Lamarche recalls. “So, I actually found out about the sinkhole from her because she went to the museum and said, hey, it’s closed.”

The next day, though, proved even busier for Lamarche, he says.

“…It really became a big flurry of activity because immediately GM wanted to jump in and say we want to help with the restoration of the cars,” he said.

Lamarche doesn’t believe the sinkhole influenced the sales of the popular new seventh-generation Stingray that went on sale in 2013, but he does believe the disaster positively affected the assembly plant as far as its popularity with tourists who can visit and see just how America’s Sports Car is built.

“Just like the museum had a record number of visitors last year in 2014, we did as well,” Lamarche says. “Over 55,000 tourists came to the plant to take our public tours.”

Fortunately, Lamarche has worked at nine GM plants, so he had the experience to handle the hoopla over the sinkhole. Now things are beginning to calm down, though there is sure to be a flurry of activity again when the restoration work is complete at the museum.

Source:
WBKO.com

Related:
[VIDEO] The Corvette Museum Commemorates the One Year Anniversary of the Sinkhole
Corvette Museum Marks One Year Anniversary of the Sinkhole that Swallowed Eight Corvettes
Meet The New Corvette Assembly Plant Manager Jeffrey Lamarche